#mary sue test
There is, perhaps, no greater insult to a female character than to call her a Mary Sue. Doing so reduces her to an unrealistic caricature, an author’s self-insert. It makes her worthless because that’s how we see Mary Sue’s.
Unfortunately, outside of “chick-lit”, it’s almost impossible to write a female character without someone labeling her as a Mary Sue. It’s the new insult of choice. Calling a female character a Mary Sue is almost as cliché as Mary Sues themselves.
Seriously, just do a quick search on Rey from the new Star Wars movie or the Hunger Game’s Katniss Everdeen and you’ll find hundreds of articles debating if these characters are actually Mary Sues. We’re not here to join those debates. We’re here to talk about why they don’t matter.
Most people don’t care if your character is the biggest Mary Sue on the planet or if she can happily say “Mary who?” All they care about is whether or not she’s fun to read about.
After all, that’s why we don’t like Mary Sues. They’re not fun. They have no personality or they’re so over-the-top perfect that they’re impossible to relate to. Thus do I present you with The Mary Sue test! A short little quiz by Kat Feete that’s mandatory for all writers. I don’t even care if you don’t have a specific character in mind when you take it, just go read through the questions.
If ones like the one below make you laugh, then stop worrying about the dread Mary Sue Label and get back to writing! If it makes you blush and feel a bit ashamed, then maybe you should go read another hundred books or so to develop your character judging abilities.
- Your character suffers terrible guilt for something she did in the past.
- But it wasn’t actually her fault.
- Anyone sensible can see it wasn’t her fault. Other characters spend story time trying to convince her of this.
If you’re still worried, send me a message and we can talk it out together. (Be sure to mention if you want a private reply)
